HMAS Melbourne 'apology'.

[Sailor Steve]

I was in California awaiting my enlistment call-up when this was in the papers. I find this interesting:

These incidents, along with several minor collisions, shipboard accidents, and aircraft losses, led to the reputation that Melbourne was jinxed.

Sometime around May 1970 the destroyer I was with was assigned to a joint task force with Melbourne in command. I was assigned to the midwatch on a particular night, as junior duty radioman. Sometime early in the morning I took a message to the bridge that on their mark the group was to execute a ninety-degree turn to starboard. When I got to the bridge I was surprised to find the captain himself there, dressed only in skivvies (boxers and t-shirt), plus his ball cap with "USS Brinkley Bass" stitched on the front and "Captain" on the back. The reason for this was that the air conditioning was out in the forward part of the ship, and it was very hot, even at 0200 hours. Anyway, the crux of the story is that our captain was worried about a possible repeat of the previous incidents, and he was right. When the command came, the entire group turned to starboard, except for Melbourne herself, who made a turn to port, heading right for us. There was at least a half-mile of separation between us, so we had plenty of time to move out of the way, but it was still an experience to remember.

The captain who is the subject of this article was long gone by then, so this has nothing to do with competence or otherwise. I don't really believe in superstitions, nautical or otherwise, but I've always wondered about Melbourne's reputation as a 'hard luck" ship.

I fully agree that Captain Stevenson shouldn't have been blamed, but then again he was exonerated by a court-martial at the time. The American captain was also court-martialed along with his two culpable subordinates, and all three were found guilty.